How to Root and install TWRP recovery on Moto Z Play

Root and install TWRP v3.1.1-1 custom recovery on Moto Z Play (addison) smartphone. It’s quite clear that the Moto Z series is the new face of Lenovo’s premium smartphones. The Moto Z Play isn’t as slim as its sibling, the Moto Z, but still its incredibly comfortable to hold. Powered by 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, it runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS out of the box.

The best way of knowing the maximum potential of any Android smartphone is by getting root access. Rooting a phone gives complete access to the system directory thus giving you the opportunity to make changes to the way the OS operates. Also you can easily get rid of those bloatware apps which take on most of your phones memory space.

Along with root, flashing a custom recovery like CWM (Clockworkmod) or TWRP (Team win recovery project) is much worthy as you can implement various operations on your phone like flashing a custom ROM, custom kernel, doing a nandroid backup or restore, flashing mods, wiping out bloatware apps, increasing internal memory, doing factory reset and much more. So in our today’s tutorial we’ll discuss on how to root and install latest TWRP v3.1.1-1 custom recovery on Motorola Moto Z Play (addison) smartphone. Let’s have a look at the features of the latest TWRP recovery v3.1.1-1 mentioned below.

Features:

Fixed rebooting when no OS is present (Dees_Troy)

Fixed line wrapping in the GUI terminal (_that)

Fixed an adb restore issue (bigbiff)

Updated TWRP source code to AOSP 7.1.2 (Dees_Troy)

Backups will now include adopted storage keys (Dees_Troy)

Interested users can move to our actual article on rooting and flashing TWRP recovery on Motorola Moto Z Play (addison) smartphone given below.

Disclaimer:

The procedure mentioned here is considered as risky and can cause damage to your Moto Z Play. We recommend to stop right here if you are unaware of such things. Please follow this tutorial completely at your own risk. If any damage happens to your device while following this guide, then we’ll not be held responsible for it.

Compatibility:

This guide is only for Motorola Moto Z Play (addison) / Moto Z Play Droid. Do not try this process on any other device or variant as it may damage your device permanently.

Ensure your computer has Motorola mobile specific USB drivers installed in it. This is essential so as to detect your Moto Z Play when connected to computer. You can manually install the drivers from the link given below.

Also enable the USB Debugging mode on your device by following the path: Menu->Settings->Developer options->USB Debugging. If you can’t see Developer option then go to Settings->About Phone and tap 7 times on the Build number. This will make the Developers option appear in the Settings menu.

Enable the OEM Unlock mode on your phone by following the path Menu->Settings->Developer options ->OEM Unlock.

Procedure to Install latest TWRP v3.1.1-1 on Moto Z Play:

Step 1: On your computer, download and install the ADB and Fastboot setup.

Step 2: Also download the TWRP.img file on your computer. Copy this twrp.img file to the location C:\Program Files\Minimal ADB and Fastboot folder (where you’ve installed the adb and fastboot).

Step 3: So you’ll have these files in the Minimal ADB and Fastboot folder:

Step 4: Using the USB cable connect your Moto Z Play to computer.

Step 5: Now go to the C:\Program Files\Minimal ADB and Fastboot folder, hold Shift button and right mouse click on an empty space. You’ll see a list of options from which select Open command window here option. This will launch the command prompt window on your computer. Refer screenshot.

Step 6: To make sure that your Moto Z Play is successfully connected to your computer or not, type the following commands in the command window and press enter key:

adb devices

As soon as you hit enter key, you’ll see a message saying ‘List of devices attached’ along with some random numbers. This will confirm that your Moto Z Play has properly connected to your computer.

Note: If such thing doesn’t happen, then re-install device drivers (link given in pre-requisites), enable USB debugging mode and try again. If the problem still persists, try changing USB cable or even the USB port.

Step 7: Now you need to boot your phone into fastboot mode. For that type the following command in the command window and press enter key:

adb reboot bootloader

As soon as you hit the enter key, your Moto Z Play will boot into fastboot mode as shown below:

Step 8: To confirm whether fastboot is functional or not, type the following command in the command window and press enter key:

fastboot devices

Some random number along with ‘List of devices attached’ message will prove that fastboot is functional.

Step 9: Now let’s flash the latest TWRP v3.1.1-1 recovery. For that, type the following command and press enter key:

fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

As you hit enter, the TWRP v3.1.1-1 recovery will be installed on your Moto Z Play. Refer the screenshot:

Note: In fastboot mode, Volume buttons are used for scrolling and Power button is used for selecting a particular option.

Step 10: After successfully flashing the TWRP v3.1.1-1 recovery, on your phone (which is still in fastboot mode) go to the Recovery option by pressing volume down button.

Step 11: And then press Power button to select the Recovery mode option.

As soon as you press the Power button, your Moto Z Play will automatically boot into the installed TWRP v3.1.1-1 recovery.

Note: As you enter the TWRP recovery you’ll be asked to modify the system partitions or not. So tick on never show this screen and just swipe to the right side to allow modifications.

Step 5: This will show you all the files and folders located on your phone.

Step 6: Just select the Update Super SU zip file which you’ve copied earlier. On the next screen just swipe right to begin the actual Rooting process.

Step 7: Wait until the process completes. Be patient as it will hardly take few minutes. As soon as the process completes, you’ll see a successful message on the screen. This will confirm that you have rooted your Moto Z Play smartphone. Just click on the Reboot System option to restart your device.

You can use Root Checker app from Google Play Store to confirm whether your Moto Z Play is successfully rooted or not. Also an app named Superuser installed on your phone will confirm that your phone is rooted. This Superuser app supervises each and every app that requires a root access.

Success

Bravo! 👊 You’ve successfully rooted and installed the latest TWRP v3.1.1-1 custom recovery on your Motorola Moto Z Play (addison) XT1635 smartphone. Now you can freely flash those unofficial custom ROMs, custom kernels, mods, remove bloatwares, take backups or restore, wipe data, do factory reset, increase internal memory and do much more on your Moto Z Play. Do let us know how it is working for you. Till then Enjoy and Peace out! 😎✌